Might just not be my type of brew but had a horrible smell and taste. Was like licking a battery. Taste of metal and bad water. Maybe I just got a bad batch. But just was terrible to me. Had about 5-6 sips and poured out.

T: The Scotch is right up front, followed by some coffe and chocolate roast. The powerful brininess reasserts itself almost instantly, finishing things out with spicy booze and medicinal, iodine-soaked oak. Crazy.

M: Lightly carbonated, thick and sticky. Ok.

O: What a beer! I love the smokiest, peatiest, briniest, most medicinal Islay malts as much as anybody, so this beer was just heavenly. Much more intense than, say, the Lagavulin version of J.W. Lees. It's definitely not for the faint of heart (I can see where other reviewers have come up with descriptors like ashtray, although I disagree with the qualitative value to be associated with such flavors), but if you like Islay in all its idiosyncratic glory, this is one to seek out.

T - While the aroma was harsh and mono-dimensional, the flavor is absolutely terrible. Burnt food, charcoal, peat, dirt, tar, hint of tire. The very enjoyable base beer has been obliterated by Islay scotch, resulting in less-complex, watered-down Scotch and oxidized beer.

M - Medium body, medium-low but active carbonation, dry, gritty, and tannic texture, and only a mild amount of alcohol warmth, even though the aroma is all Scotch.

D - Stunningly bad. This served as great comic relief at the end of evening. It was hard to choke down sufficient volume of this wretched brew to write an articulate review. There are a few Scotch barrel-aged beers that are enjoyable out there, but this ain't one of them.

Jet black with a dark tan head that falls quickly to a ring. Reforms to half a finger on swirling.

Swingeing assault of charcoal, wood and ash. Over the course, as desensitisation sets in, rich nutty aromas and plasticy phenolics become prominent.

Like licking an ashtray initially, but by the end I'm seriously digging it. Serious peat, vegemite, seaweed and rum & raisin chocolate.

Full, silky, smooth, dusting of heat. Perfect.

Pretty crazy and hard to score overall. Initial impressions were that the base beer was obliterated, but it emerges a little over the course. For mine, a shorter barrel-ageing would have been more conducive to getting the best of both worlds.

A-- Poured an oily black, just a few tints of red at the top of the head. Quick fading one finger, light brown head. Mostly a decent looking light brown collar. Dark oily substance left in glass after drinking beer.

M-- Full, luscious, rich, thick and and just plain good. Well balanced between the barrel and the beer

O-- Really no oatmeal to speak of and the base beer was lost in a way as the Islay really dominated. What it left though was just plain good. Barrel took the beer to another level and the base beer is pretty darned good. To taste seaweed, iodine, and salt water was quite cool. Well balanced beer. Just not a good looking appearance. Otherwise an excellent beer

Pours a very, very dark...well it's black, isn't it? No other interpretation necessary. Head is ochre, a bit lacklustre but a quick swill puts life back into it. Lace is a bit thin; but looks good.

Smell is smokey like all else. Bacony goodness, with neat, wood-charred and yeah some pine needle as well. But hell, it's mostly that peat-smoked character - big, smokey, insane. I love it.

Taste is...insane. Big and stouty upfront, with dark mocha notes, loads of chocolate malt and espresso character on the assault. Then the Islay notes take over, firstly wood with massive oak that develops a burnt, charry, spicy peat note and then just so much smoke, meaty and bacony and a little bit sweet on the back. Look, it's the place where all good stouts should go. Delicious, really; lovely smokey notes and it's just well-constructed, with a lovely balance to it.

Full, stouty, with a dry boozey component mid-to-late; can't say I'm a huge fan of the texture, though it's not too bad.

Served to me by @LaitueGonflable, and shared with him and @tobeerornottobe.

Pours a lovely thick black, with a ring of mocha-coloured foam around the edges. Unfortunately the head isn't larger, but it's solid enough, and the body is pleasantly fine. No lacing, but this is a heavy, minimally carbonated beer, and you have to respect that.

Nose. OK, I'm just going to say it: "Holy fuck!". It's like the blend of a big, deeply sweet and robust imperial stout and a peaty, smoky Scotch. It's an insane blend, and incredibly, stupidly good. The sweetness of the malt, the smokiness of the peat, the roast character giving it a black, sharp finality. Wow. What an incredible nose.

Taste is gorgeous. It has the smoothness of a big, supple American stout, but it's flavoured with a peppery, smoky and minerally Islay whiskey character, that gives it a depth and a craziness above its station. Fantastic smoothness throughout, and a lovely afterpalate of rich, roasted malt, which gives a bittersweet finish, and compliments the peat smoke characters on the mid palate. This is an outstanding combination.

Feel is smooth but supple, without a thickness that could potentially overwhelm or accentuate the sweetness too much.

This may have been one of the best beers I have ever had in my entire life. I was not expecting this level of beer when I opened it last night. But this literally blew me away and I have had alot of really good beers lately. Serve near room temperature and poured into a snifter. I sat by the TV and relaxed with this one for damn near three hours late last night, 06/18/2010.

Fantastic dark and foreboding pour with a huge pillow of tan the comes up and over the top with an insanely ominous look to it. Really just tremendously good with a ton of lacing rolling down the sides.

Amazing aroma, the things that dreams are made of. Huge scotch and peat like aroma. Tobacco and deep smoke all over this. I melted into it on the first sip. After a bit you can pick up the vanilla and a touch of old burnt wood as well. Each sip was an adventure in how to age a beer. Huge peat and smoke right up front with a campfire log flavor as you first finish the sip. Sitting on it brings touches of vanilla, a slight bit of the original bitter touches from the beer geek coffee pop up as well. But I just kept going with this one. I have never felt as immersed in a scotch barrel before. Simply amazing and unreal.

Final sips were dripping with smoky notes as strong as the first sips with this thick, viscous body to it that refused to allow you to come up for air. An amazing beer that I really wish more readily available.